The ability to control Windows 10 with your eyes is coming soon

Controlling your PC with only your eyes is something that’s set to be possible much sooner than you probably think. According to the Windows blog, the technology will be available in the latest Windows 10 Preview Build (162570).

The technology comes from a partnership with Tobii, a Swedish company that specifically develops eye control technology.

The tech will be accessible within the preview build as ‘Eye Control’ and will use the computer’s camera to recognize exactly where the user is looking. However, this technology will not work with all laptops, unless you use Tobii’s own Eye Tracker 4C, the first camera that supports Eye Control.

After activating Eye Control on a supporting laptop it will execute a launchpad that appears on the screen and lets users make their eyes a cursor, giving them the ability to navigate an on-screen keyboard — with US layout only — activate text-to-speech and change the UI elements.

Eye Control can also perform keyboard functions with swipe-like typing. To type a word stare at the first and last letter and then glance at all of the letters in between. The system will then attempt to guess the word, providing four choices in case the first choice was wrong.

“Adding native eye tracking support to Windows 10 is a key milestone in our mission to make this technology part of our everyday devices,” said Henrik Eskilsson, CEO of Tobii, in a statement.

“Through integration with Microsoft’s operating system, it becomes possible over time to realize robust eye tracking implementations that add a range of user benefits. This collaboration clearly shows the value of eye gaze input and is a big step forward on the long-term journey to drive high-volume adoption of eye tracking.”

Note that while Eye Control sounds fun for the average user, its most significant for making PCs more accessible to those with disabilities.

Source: Windows blog